MTS executive Latsanich to leave operator, may join VEON

MOSCOW, Jun 5 (PRIME) -- Vasil Latsanich, vice president for strategy and marketing at Russian mobile operator MTS, may leave the company, the operator’s spokesman Dmitry Solodovnikov said late on June 2.

“We’re aware of Vasil’s plans (to quit). We understand his career aspirations,” Solodovnikov said, adding that MTS is choosing his successor but is not in a rush, because “the team is strong, and a favorable trend on the market is well under way.”

Mass media reported that Latsanich is a candidate for the position of general director of VimpelCom, a local asset of Amsterdam-based group VEON, and could replace company’s CEO Kjell Johnsen. A person close to VEON said that Latsanich is not involved in the talks about the Russian unit. His family resides in the U.K., and the executive has been longing to find a job beyond the CIS in a global foreign holding, mass media sources said.

VimpelCom Director for Corporate Communications Andrei Bykasov said that Johnsen earlier said that he will continue heading the company for a long time. A source in VimpelCom told PRIME that staff changes in VEON have nothing to do with Russia.

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